The incident to which Dr Akinola referred involved a man who lives in Dulwich being arrested on suspicion of carrying out a series of sex attacks on sheep at a farm in Bromley earlier this year. The attacks left two animals dead and several others traumatised.

The Most Rev Peter Akinola, one of the most powerful figures in the Anglican Communion, has cited a man's arrest for having sex with sheep as proof of Britain's moral decline.
Dr Akinola referred to the alleged farmyard sex crimes in an important speech to the General Synod of the Church of Nigeria .
Dr Akinola, the Primate of Nigeria and a leader of traditionalists worldwide, said the alleged offences of bestiality in south London showed how "spiritual degradation" was destroying the country's soul.

He also claimed the advent of civil partnerships for homosexual couples showed that politicians are "upturning the natural order" and doing away with God and family life.

Dr Akinola referred to the alleged farmyard sex crimes in an important speech to the General Synod of the Church of Nigeria, the 18 million-strong church's governing body, last month.

He said: "As a church we cannot but continue to decry the disturbing level of moral decadence and spiritual degradation eating deep into the soul of western societies.

"In the United Kingdom, all through Europe and in an ever-increasing number of states in America, legislators make laws to upturn the natural order and throw God away from the public domain.

"Marriage and family life as we know them in the word of God have been jettisoned.

"People of the same sex are legally permitted to marry. Parents' right to discipline their children is legally denied, the age of discretion that used to be 21 has been lowered to 18 and there are efforts at reducing it to 16 if not 14.

"As if these are not bad enough, only last week the Tell magazine reported in its 36th edition on page 12 that a 27-year-old man was arrested for having sex with a sheep in Dulwich, south-east London."

The incident to which Dr Akinola referred involved a man who lives in Dulwich being arrested on suspicion of carrying out a series of sex attacks on sheep at a farm in Bromley earlier this year. The attacks left two animals dead and several others traumatised.